Possible next-gen 4K Fire TV surfaces in FCC filing

An FCC filing for a new media streaming device that is likely the next generation Amazon Fire TV has just surfaced. Huge thanks to Dave Zatz from ZatzNotFunny, who has a keen eye for uncovering FCC filings, for bringing this to my attention. The mystery device, which has a good chance of being the next generation Fire TV first seen in leaked benchmarks a couple months ago, features 4K streaming capabilities. Other improvements over the current generation Fire TV include a MicroSD card slot, 802.11ac wireless, and Bluetooth 4.1. You’ll be happy to hear that the device also still includes an RJ-45 ethernet port and a USB port which appears to support expandable storage via a USB flash drive.

We won’t know for sure if this device is in fact the next generation Fire TV until the device is officially announced, but several reassuring indications are present. We have been expecting a new Fire TV ever since the existing model became no longer available through Amazon’s site. The beefed up specs in the leaked benchmarks, which reveal a device at least twice as powerful as the existing Fire TV, would indicate the new device comes with 4K video support.

22 comments

i wouldnt waste my money. had the firetv box (which is alot better than the stick) and had to reboot it everyday so it wouldnt get all skippy in 1080p video…. I ditched the firetv and got a nvidia shield tv and havent looked back. the shield tv is literally on a whole different level than the firetv and i expect the firetv 2 will not be much an improvement over the first one

hope it releases soon. i have a staples coupon for $30 off $60, I’d love to use it to buy the Fire TV 2, but the coupon expires end of October.
might end up just buying two Fire Sticks with the coupon…

Agreed. Not to mention my FireTV is just wonderful, no need for an upgrade since I don’t have (or are planning to get) AC, or 4K TV. Really no need for a micro SD slot. I’d be interested in the twice as powerful, tho not sure what that exactly means…

With Apple showing off their latest Apple TV today, its only a matter of time before we see new boxes from Amazon and Roku. Christmas will be here before we know it. I’m sure Amazon and Roku will want to capitalize on it for the shopping season.

I’ve been reading about this for a month. I must have scored one of the last 1st gen FireTV’s when I ordered it via prime last month. It arrive and I told the wife to send it back because we were getting the new version. You can release it anytime now.

It’s probably a good idea to understand what each company’s goals are with the devices they sell. For Apple, they make a sizable amount of revenue from the hardware they sell, while most of the software is 3rd party and so they just get a cut for selling it thru their app store. Their hardware is usually higher priced than competitors and so it makes sense for them to keep you in their ecosystem (boy I hate that buzzword) in order to maintain your dependence on their hardware (to maintain their revenue).

Amazon makes little to nothing on hardware sales for any of their devices. For them, they sell other peoples stuff and take their cut. So they need to sell A LOT of stuff. And of course, because of the economies of scale, the more they sell, the more profit they make. And I’m not talking about apps or games here, I mean ANY stuff. So their hardware will be made to keep you buying thru ALL their stores (app store, physical goods store, etc.).

The new AppleTV is actually a good thing for those wanted to remain exclusively in the Apple ecosystem. The benefit of the current FireTV is sheer power (and it’s openness if you know how to sideload). It’s a great box for streaming Netflix, Hulu but also local content (which is why I have 3 of them). Both have a place and for different types of customers.

But I believe the new FireTV will continue to align with Amazon’s goals and make it easier and easier to buy lots of stuff thru Amazon.